Japanese GP:Single point from Massa for Williams Martini

By Andrew Hooper
October 8 2017

The results from the 2017 Japanese GP would aagin see very mixed result for the Williams Martini team with Felipe Massa been able to secure a single point with a 10th place finish. But for team-mate Lance Stroll his race would see him make a greta start only to go off the circuit dropping down the order only to retire with a failure with his car near the closing stages of the race seeing him retire. A single point is still a result but it really does not help when one of their main rivals Hass would have both their cars finish ahead of the single Williams of Felipe.

Japanese Grand Prix Race Review

The Williams
Martini team would see their drivers line-up on eighth and fifteenth grid
positions for the fifty three lap 2017 Japanese Grand Prix with Felipe Massa
leading team-mate Lance Stroll. For Felipe his race would see him start of
the super soft tyre while Lance would start on new super soft tyres. The
grid would see Hamilton leading from Vettel, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Ocon,
Bottas, Perez, Felipe, Vandoorne and Raikkonen in tenth. Of the top ten
Bottas and Raikkonen would start the race on the soft tyre with the other
drivers all on the super soft. Other drivers on the soft were Hulkenberg in
eleventh with Ericsson, Wehrlein, Palmer and Sainz all at the back of the
grid. Starting last was Alonso due to engine change penalties despite having
qualified in tenth.

The cars would complete their parade lap and would form up and with the
lights going out it would be Hamilton leading from Vettel with Ocon now
fourth ahead of Ricciardo. Sainz would go off while Verstappen would pass
Vettel at the hairpin. For Williams Felipe was eighth and Lance twelfth.
Vettel would come on the radio saying that he had no power and Ocon,
Ricciardo, and Bottas were all past. Lance was now up to eleventh behind
Magnussen. The Safety Car would come out with Sainz's car stuck out on the
track after been told to stop. Raikkonen was now down in fourteenth.

The Safety Car would come in and
Hamilton would pull away from Verstappen. Perez would pass Vettel seeing the
Ferrari seventh. Felipe was now in seventh as he also past Vettel. Lance
would go wide dropping down to seventeenth as Vettel was told to pit to
retire the car. Lance would pit switching to the soft tyre after what may
have been a puncture. He would return in seventeenth with six laps
completed. Felipe was 1.4 seconds behind Perez with seven laps completed
with Hulkenberg a similar margin behind the Williams. Lance was now in a
very lonely seventeenth fourteen seconds behind Vandoorne. The Williams team
would confirm that Lance had gone off the track forcing him to pit. Ericsson
would go into the barriers at the 2nd Degner corner seeing the Virtual
Safety Car deployed.

The Safety Car would end with Lance was now fifteenth but a huge margin
behind Alonso. Felipe continued to run in a fairly comfortable seventh while
Ocon would be passed by Ricciardo at Turn one. Bottas would pass Ocon for
fourth using his DRS. Raikkonen was now right behind Felipe and would pass
the Williams using his DRS seeing Felipe now eighth. The top ten now was
Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Bottas, Ocon, Perez, Raikkonen, Felipe,
Hulkenberg, and Magnussen tenth. Vandoorne was now right behind Lance and
looking to pass. Felipe would pit on lap nineteen taking on the soft tyre
dropping to fourteenth just ahead of his team-mate. Lap twenty three and
Verstappen would pit taking on soft tyres with Perez also coming in also
taking on soft tyres. Hamilton would pit on lap twenty four taking on soft
tyres coming back out in third ahead of Verstappen.

Ricciardo was now leading from
Bottas while for Williams Felipe was now twelfth and Lance fifteenth.
Ricciardo would pit on lap twenty seven seeing Bottas now leading. Ricciardo
was back out in fifth behind Raikkonen who had yet to stop. Hamilton was now
second followed by Verstappen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Ocon,
Perez, Palmer and Felipe now tenth. Lance was down in fourteenth eight
seconds behind Gasly. Bottas would allow Hamilton past dropping to second
with the Red Bull's third and fourth. Bottas would pit on lap thirty two
switching to the super soft and returning in fourth. Hamilton would say that
he was struggling with his rears. Raikkonen was now fifth and also having
switched to the super soft tyre.

Felipe was still holding off Magnussen but the pair would move up one place
with Hulkenberg pitting. Felipe was now eighth but Magnussen would finally
get past allowing Grosjean to also get past. This would see Felipe tenth
again. Magnussen was right behind Felipe going into Turn one and he would
then get past at Turn two. This would see the top ten now Hamilton,
Verstappen, Ricciardo, Bottas, Raikkonen, Ocon, Perez, Magnussen, Grosjean,
and Felipe. Lance was now a lap down with six laps remaining. Lance would go
off the track taking to the gravel pulling over and stopping. He would say
that there was something wrong with the car with replays showing something
happened with the front right appearing to fail. This would see the Virtual
Safety Car come out as they recovered Lance's car.

The final laps would be
completed and it would be Hamilton who was able to maintain his lead over
Verstappen even though Verstappen had close the gap to just over a second to
take victory in the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix. Ricciardo was third followed
by Bottas, Raikkonen, Ocon, Perez, Magnussen, Grosjean, and Felipe tenth.
For the Williams team Felipe did his best to come home with the single point
but for Lance his race was hampered by first of all leaving the track when
he was running just outside the top ten and then to never really recover
from this running down the order only to retire. A single point is still a
result but it really does not help when one of their main rivals Hass would
have both their cars finish ahead of the single Williams of Felipe.

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